We did not notice her go; we don't even observe that she has gone--we are too busy looking at the fire.

By and by the tremulous tinkling of an aged piano reaches us from an adjoining chamber, and Aaron looks at me through his fingers, and I take a lightning glance at Mr.David, and he uncrosses his legs and rises, and sits down again.

Aaron, in the most unconcerned way, proceeds to cut tobacco and rub it between his fingers, and I stretch out my legs and contemplate them with passionate approval.

While we are thus occupied David has risen, and he is so thoroughly at his ease that he has begun to hum.

He strolls round the kitchen, looking with sudden interest at the mantelpiece ornaments; he reads, for the hundredth time, the sampler on the wall.